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Friday, May 25, 2012

Grandma's Trellis - A Finish!

Now that my partner has recieved it I can post about my latest finish.

My maternal Grandmother was my first ever best friend, and to this day she remains the best, best friend I've ever had. She's been gone nearly 20 years now, and I still miss her more than I could ever hope to convey.

She taught me how to sew, how to make quilts and how to be a Mom. I didn't live with my grandparents, but usually I wished I did. I don't want to get all negative so all I will say is that my home life as a child was not good and I'll leave it there.

My Grandma was multitalented, like me, a scatterbrain. She used to tell people that she was a scatterbrain and that she could do lots of things, just none of them super well. Again, I am a lot like her in that respect. She sewed all of my "fancy" dresses growing up, but by the time I was ready for a wedding gown she was already suffering from Alzheimer's and even though she knew who we were still, and even though she offered, I wanted her to just come to my wedding, not frustrate herself trying to make me a dress. By that time sewing for her was more frustration than fun.

One of the things I remember most about Grandma was her wicked sense of humor, always followed by and innocent "Did I just say/do that?" look.

She played an organ, one of the ones with two levels of keys and she tried to teach me how to do that too. I can plunk around on our piano, but I'm not as good as she was, probably because I lacked dedication to practice. :D

During the summers my grandparents had a trellis that grew out in front of their house with a bunch of flowers vining up it. There were always ladybugs everywhere and every time Gram saw one she would recite the ladybug poem. You know the one, "Ladybug, ladybug fly away home..." In the side yard there were 3 huge hydrangea bushes that she was super proud of. All of them flowered in blue and they were gorgeous. She loved those bushes and for my wedding reception she completely cleaned all of the flowers off of them to make my centerpieces. I didn't expect that when she and my Grandpa said they would handle the centerpieces.

The front of the quilt is inspired by my Grandma's Trellis, the back is a piece of vintage sheet that I bought because it reminded me of the hydrangea bushes in the back yard. Almost the whole time I was working on this quilt I was remembering things about my Gramma. The process of making it was likely the best I've had so far, even though some tears were shed, as is inevitable when I think about my Grandparents for any extended period of time. I miss them both, but mostly I miss my best Gramma friend. :)

W.I.P. Wednesday

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About Me

I am Mom to 3 awesome adult children, Gramma to one completely captivating wee little boy and wife to a great guy. I am a quilter and occasionally I make a garment. Recently I've made my hubs a few "modern" or "utility" kilts. I work as a Member Services Analyst for a Health Insurance company and absolutely love my job.